“This is a great opportunity for our students to engage with Right Livelihood Laureates and learn from their advocacy work that is often closely connected to sustainability science and socio-ecological challenges. It is also a chance to highlight the Laureates’ achievements to a broader audience,” says LUCSUS researcher Maryam Nastar.
John Carl Alonsagay and Vasu Jain were awarded the travel stipend in 2026. They travelled to the Philippines and to India respectively to conduct fieldwork for their theses, which they both defended in May 2026. They were master students in the LUMES (Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science) programme.
Exploring the role of local and Indigenous knowledges (ILK) in the Philippines
John Carl Alonsagay engaged with the work of Filipino Indigenous activist, Joan Carling, who has been defending the rights of Indigenous Peoples for over three decades. Her work focuses on human rights, sustainable development, climate justice and the fight against land exploitation. She received the Right Livelihood Laureate award in 2024.
In his thesis, John Carl Alonsagay explores how Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) contributes to social-ecological resilience in communities in Libertad, Antique Province, Northwest Panay Island, Central Philippines. These communities depend mainly on their traditional livelihoods – Bariw (screw palm) harvesting and weaving, as well as freshwater shrimp fishing.
His research shed light on how broader structures and different formal institutions both shape and erode knowledge systems these communities have preserved for centuries.
“Overall, my study’s findings suggest that ILK in Libertad, Northwest Panay, remains dynamic, supportive, and adaptive but is dependent on supportive institutional arrangements that protect and support their livelihoods, recognising their Indigenous and local autonomy as a people and their cultural heritages, and alongside the recognition of their ILK as a valid and important knowledge system in ecosystem management and overall governance,” says John Carl Alonsagay.
He continues:
“Joan Carling’s social justice advocacy strongly resonates in this research. Her grassroots advocacy demonstrates that sustainable development efforts often overlook communities, despite their long histories of environmental stewardship and customary management that have sustained ecosystem resources for centuries.”
Read more about Joan Carling on the Right Livelihood website
A critical look at India’s solar energy development
Vasu Jain engaged with the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE). It is an organisation working to protect the environment in India through the creative use of law and legal processes. In 2021, it received the Right Livelihood Laureate award.
In his thesis, Vasu Jain explores how the rapid expansion of solar energy in India has impacted communities in three villages in Rajasthan: Dholiya, Keraliya, and Sanawara. They are all marked by uneven rural development.
He finds that the installation of large-scale solar photovoltaics (PV)has led to economic benefits for land-holding households, since they lease their land to generate solar energy. However, social and rural development has not been even: the precariousness of livestock herders and livestock rearing as a livelihood has increased as a result of the country’s rapid solar energy expansion. These findings highlight how rural development and energy access remains uneven in India’s energy transition.
“These findings hold particular relevance for the work of the Right Livelihood Laureate – Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE). Through my thesis, I contribute an understanding of the developmental challenges, the ongoing landscape transformations, and the distributional injustices due to solar PV development in these villages,” says Vasu Jain.
Read more about LIFE on the Right Livelihood website
